


Sweet (Like Candy In My Veins)

by generalfrings



Category: Fifth Harmony (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-22
Updated: 2015-12-01
Packaged: 2018-05-02 18:25:55
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 16,888
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5259017
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/generalfrings/pseuds/generalfrings
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Camila does not have a crush on Ally Hernandez. Seriously.</p><p>She just really appreciates how sweet Ally is, and how nice she looks in tiny shorts, and even the annoyed tilt to her lips when Camila makes a terrible joke. </p><p>And yeah, Ally's gorgeous, and Camila can't take her eyes off of her when she dances, but so what? They're just two people who are sort of friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from BØRNS' [Electric Love](http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/borns/electriclove.html).
> 
> Bless [heroau](http://heroau.tumblr.com) for the amazing beta work. :^)

Camila takes another sip from her cup, frowning and shaking it lightly when she realizes it’s empty. She glances at the group of girls she’d been watching dance in the space between the couch and the stereo system, and curses under her breath before deciding to head into the kitchen for a refill.

The kitchen lights are harsh to her eyes, a stark difference to the dimmed mood lighting in the rest of the house, and she blinks repeatedly to clear her vision. She halfway succeeds, and thanks for about the thousandth time in the night that this party isn't anywhere near as big as some of the other parties Mani's invited her to - she doesn't have to dodge any extremely intoxicated frat boys nor any puddles of suspicious looking and smelling liquids to get to the fridge.

She stares at the opened fridge before her for an inordinate amount of time, leaning against its door and mumbling along with the music thumping from the living room. Not that she's going to grab anything but the "fruity ass wine coolers she likes so much" as Mani would put it, but she allows herself to at least  _look_  over the other options. 

Figuring she should get a move on, she grabs the bottle of the wild berries flavored cooler, trying to twist the cap off the way Lauren had showed her earlier tonight when she turns around and runs straight into Dinah.

"Oh, shoot, sorry!" Camila squeaks, taking a step back and suddenly realizing she's halfway to buzzed when she wobbles on the spot slightly.

"No worries, girl," Dinah says, winking at her with an easy smile. "Just coming to grab the next wave of drinks. Your girl Normani thinks she can boss me around just because I'm not part of her lame ass sorority, I swear."

"She  _was_ recently elected chapter president," Camila points out, and Dinah rolls her eyes.

"Yeah, and she won't let anyone forget it," Dinah says with an exaggeratedly annoyed huff, and Camila snickers halfheartedly before offering to help her with the drinks. She figures that since she herself is not part of the sorority either, she might need to pull her weight to justify being here - no matter how hard Mani would slap her if she heard her say it.

She ends up with a case of beer in her arms and a bottle of vodka balanced precariously on top of it, her wine cooler just barely held between her fingers as Dinah carries the other cases of beer from the fridge and leads the way back to the living room.

The few people on the way to the coffee table full of empty bottles thankfully make room for them to pass, and they near the table soon enough, Camila feeling like she's never walked more awkwardly in her life as she takes measured steps to make sure she doesn't trip on her own feet.

Of course things couldn't be that easy, though. Camila swears she sees her life flash before her eyes when the bottle of vodka starts rolling off the top of the case she's carrying - like, listen: one time she'd dropped some mustard on Mani's sorority's house floor and Mani had nearly decapitated her, so she cannot imagine what a cracked bottle and vodka all over the couch would do to her.

She's about to close her eyes and pray to the Lord that her death be quick and painless when she hears a giggled "woah, there we go!", and when she opens her eyes, there's Ally Hernandez, sorority Vice President and dance party enthusiast, grinning at her and holding the bottle Camila was sure was headed towards her toes.

"Can't have this going to waste," Ally says above the music, leaning in slightly to make sure she's heard, and all Camila manages to do is grin goofily back at her and watch in awe as Ally twists the cap off the bottle and takes a sip straight from it while Dinah takes the case of beer from Camila's arms and puts it on the coffee table she'd cleared.

And, like, Camila's eyes are  _not_  drawn to the way Ally's throat bobs as she swallows, nor to the line of her cleavage as she still stands leaned in towards Camila, and especially not to the flush of Ally's cheeks or how her lips glisten when she licks them after pulling the bottle away.

Absolutely none of that happens, and it's entirely coincidental that Camila's mouth has gone dry and that she has to bring her wine cooler up to take a sip. Completely, entirely coincidental, no matter what anyone would say about the way Camila's eyes drop to take in the way Ally's ass looks in her shorts when the girl spins around to call over to someone and dance up to them.

Listen - Camila's at this "small get together" because Normani had invited her over and promised her that it was going to be... well,  _small_ , because pretty much everyone was at some other bigger party going on. And Mani's her best friend, they'd roomed together for a full year before Mani had joined her sorority, and Camila misses her. So that's why she's here.

But she can't deny that a big reason why she's  _still_  here despite Mani being dragged away from her constantly through the night is... well, Ally.

Camila and Ally don't really know each other, not exactly. Well, they do. They're just not friends. Well, they  _are_ , just... not like  _that_ , Camila thinks, furrowing her brow at herself as she steps away from the people trying to get to the beer on the table beside her.

Like, Mani had become quick friends with Ally after joining the sorority (Camila still says that was because of their shared Texan roots just so Ally will giggle at the unimpressed look Normani is sure to throw Camila), and that meant that a lot of the times Camila would hang out with Mani, she'd also end up hanging out with Ally.

And Ally's, like. It's impossible not to like her - even if she doesn't always laugh at Camila's jokes and stares back at Camila with this almost pissed off look when she thinks the joke was particularly bad. But still - she's just so very earnestly, genuinely sweet, and so so  _so_ gorgeous. And that's not at all the alcohol making Camila gush as she finishes another winer cooler and watches Ally dance with a couple of girls.

And by the way, Camila  _hasn't_  been standing there creepily watching Ally the whole night. In fact, she's made sure to mingle - she tried to watch a drunken game of Pictionary happening over at one corner, and she's made conversation with some people, and danced with Mani, and gotten drinks with Lauren, and she  _swears_ that there have been times through all of that where her eyes  _hadn't_ been drawn to Ally in those black shorts and white top.

In fact, she's drawing her eyes away right now. When she stands up to go see if there's still any wine coolers still left, she feels her head spin a tad bit too much for a second, and decides that she definitely needs some air, like, stat, no matter how good Ally looks gyrating her hips like- anyway. Air. Right.

Camila dodges the couple of people milling around the hallway as she steps out into the back of the sorority house, the music now just a hollow thrumming coming from inside. She decides to take a seat on the steps that lead to the small backyard where she can see a couple of girls sitting in a circle on the grass talking.

Camila lets out a breathy laugh to herself when she almost slips on thin air as she sits on the steps, dropping herself back and leaning back on her elbows as she closes her eyes with her head turned up towards the night sky. The cool air feels nice against her skin, and she feels a pleasant buzzing in her body from all the alcohol she hadn't realized she'd drank.

"Wowie, I need some air," Camila hears just before she opens her eyes and turns her head to find one Ally Hernandez plopping herself down next to her. "Hi!" Ally exclaims, fanning herself with a hand, and Camila instantly grins back at her, squinting slightly at how  _bright_ Ally looks beneath the backyard lights.

"Hi Allyyyy," Camila greets, giggling lightly when Ally leans in to bump her shoulder against hers. Camila doesn't quite pull back from the gesture, and she only realizes Ally hasn't either when a minute later she finds her own head is still sort of leaning onto Ally's shoulder.

Camila's mind feels slightly foggy, and somehow the first full thought that manages to get through to her is that Ally feels taller than she should. The realization has her pulling her head back and looking down to find that Ally's sat a step above her, and when that sinks in, she grins up at Ally, her filter momentarily forgotten. 

"Ally," Camila starts with a somber expression which is promptly broken by a giggle, "you're so tiny... like I could one hundred por- _per_ cent pick you up, like, on my lap," she rambles, being met with what she hopes is a fond eye roll, rather than an annoyed one.

"Camila, you're like two inches taller than me," Ally points out, squinting slightly as she smiles at her. "You're just as small as I am, so stop fooling yourself, honey."

Camila's been called  _honey_  before - she's been called honey by mean, sarcastic girls who looked down their noses at her, she's been called honey by family members and friends, and she's been called honey by the old ladies she plays chess with sometimes when she's home for summer break. 

None of those times have ever made her feel as giddy as she feels when Ally does it with that little smile, her Texas drawl just a little heavier than usual the way it gets when she's halfway to drunk.

"Honestly, the moment you try to pick me up I bet we're both falling on our butts," Ally adds then, taking Camila's smile as a dismissal.

"Excuse me!" Camila exclaims, mouth dropping open in an offended gasp. "How dare- excuse you! I'll have you know that Mani took me to the gym last week," Camila starts rambling, somehow not tumbling over her words as she starts talking faster than necessary. "I mean seriously, look at these," she exclaims, raising her arm and flexing her nonexistent muscles exaggeratedly to try and impress Ally. "I could totally take you,  _chica_ , look," she says, poking at her own arm with a finger.

Ally, on the other hand, had stopped paying attention to Camila's rambling probably halfway through it, because Camila's offended expression had made her start laughing hard enough that she throws her head back and nudges Camila with her shoulder again. Now that Ally's caught her breath and realized how close they are from each other, Ally can't stop noticing the way Camila's lips tilt up into a smile while she keeps rambling.

Camila's smile is distracting, is what it is, even more than the way the alcohol has Ally's own pulse buzzing in her ears. Camila's smile is possibly even more distracting than the feeling of Camila's eyes on Ally through the night - she'd felt Camila looking at her multiple times, and every time she'd look back at her, Camila managed to snap her eyes away just in time. 

But Camila's smile... wow. The only thing more distracting than it is how flushed Camila's cheeks look right now as she talks. Not to mention how red Camila's lips look when Camila stops biting onto them after laughing at herself.

And, God, Ally's not a saint, but she's definitely single and buzzed, and Camila's been rambling about picking her up for long enough now that Ally can't stop picturing herself on the other girl's lap. She runs her eyes down Camila's body, takes notice of the small glimpse of cleavage she can see, the sliver of skin between Camila's top and the waistband of her jeans, and when she drags her eyes back up to Camila's dark eyes, Ally gives her a smile that has Camila stuttering over her next words. 

"Alright, show me what you've got then," Ally invites, already having made her decision as she lifts herself off the step she's sat on so she can throw a leg over Camila's hips to straddle her and settle onto her lap.

"Oh! Uh- Okay, fuck," Camila stutters, because suddenly she has a lap full of Ally Brooke Hernandez, and she doesn't know where to put her hands, and  _shit_ , Ally's weight is settled  _really nicely_  on top of her, and- "Fuck," she repeats, then, because Ally's looking down at her with a sly smile and flushed cheeks, and Camila's wanted to kiss her before, more than once for sure, but not nearly as much as she wants to right now.

She doesn't get the chance to act on the urge, though, because Ally's already leaning in, flicking her eyes down to her mouth and kissing  _her._ Camila's mind stumbles over the realization that it doesn't matter that she didn't get to make the first move since the end result is the same just as she presses her hands to the low of Ally's back and presses up to kiss her back.

Ally cups her hands over Camila's cheeks and feels the flush to them as she pulls back from the light kiss, smiling before she presses back in and tilts her head to the side, parting her lips over Camila's to deepen the kiss with a small hum. Camila tastes pleasantly like the sweet fizzy drinks Ally knows she prefers, and she chases the taste with her tongue as Camila's mouth parts under her own.

When Ally pulls back for some air - and Lord knows how much time has passed until she does - she cups Camila's face and drags a thumb over Camila's plump bottom lip, smiling as Camila looks up at her with a stunned, breathless look. 

"That's not bad," Ally comments, trailing her hand down Camila's neck as she nuzzles Camila's cheek and drops a kiss to the corner of her mouth. "Not bad at all," she mutters, very aware of the erratic pounding of her own heart as she brushes her lips along Camila's jawline and nudges her chin up with her fingers so she can press a kiss under her jaw.

This might not have been how Ally had planned the night to go - in fact, it definitely hadn't; she'd been eying this guy friend of Dinah's earlier in the night and bidding her time to go up to him, but now that she has Camila under herself, cursing under her breath when Ally nips at the skin of her neck, she could not be more thankful that this is where she's ended up instead.

Especially when she gets to part her lips and suck at the skin of Camila's neck to hear Camila cursing again, louder this time, getting Ally to hum and lick at the spot before sucking harder. When Ally pulls back with a final graze of her teeth over the spot of Camila's neck she'd been sucking on, she notes with a sense of satisfaction that she's left a mark that's sure to be noticeable later. 

Camila makes no complaints - all does is slip her hands beneath Ally's top and trail her warm fingers up Ally's back in a way that feels so intimate that it has Ally shivering, her eyes fluttering shut against her will as Camila leans up to kiss the curve of her jaw before pulling back when Ally manages to open her eyes to look down at her.

Camila's eyes look wide and blown as she looks back at her, her gaze flickering between Ally's eyes and her mouth as Camila drags her hands back down Ally's back, trailing her fingertips just above the waistband of her skirt.

Ally leans down and takes Camila's lips with her own again, feels her own breath stutter at the way Camila sucks Ally's bottom lip into her mouth, licking at it before their mouths part into each other's. They pull apart and back together naturally, and Ally is very aware of the way Camila's lips tilt up into a smile as they move into yet another kiss.

"What?" Ally asks in a murmur against Camila's lips, pulling back slightly and smiling back at her in reaction.

"Nothing," Camila breathes out, shaking her head and still smiling up at her as she tugs Ally back in and catches her lips with her own, because she's not about to admit that she feels like she's about to explode with giddiness at having this dream of a girl on her lap, kissing her so good that Camila saying her stomach flutters with butterflies wouldn't even begin to describe it.

And Ally's, like, really,  _really_  good at this. 

"You're really good at this," Camila gasps, working hard to not let her breath come out in a moan when Ally releases Camila's lip from between her teeth as they pull back from what might as well be their thirtieth kiss in a row (Camila wouldn't know, she'd lost count after precisely the first one). "Like, damn," she mutters dazedly, licking at her own sore lip and staring at Ally's mouth. 

Ally chuckles at her, and then full out laughs when she notices the absolutely dazed look on Camila's face. Her laugh has Camila blinking up at her with a slow smile spreading across her lips, and soon enough she's looking up at Ally with the dopiest, most flushed of grins, and something low in Ally's gut twists in reaction.

Not bad at all indeed.

*******

"Mani, I need your phone," Ally says as she barges into Normani's room and drops herself onto the girl's bed where Mani's lying under the covers. She spots the phone on her bedside drawer and reaches for it, stretching herself across Normani's body to do so and eliciting a deep groan from the girl. "What's your password again?"

"Why are you in my room," Normani groans into her pillow as a response, pulling the sheets further up to cover her face and turning further into her side while Ally leans against her back. "Leave me alone to die..."

"Just tell me your password and I will," Ally says, trying to tap out a combination on Normani's lock screen from memory but getting it wrong. She tries again to no avail, and drops the phone as she look at Normani's back expectantly.

"Last time I gave you my password you went through all my instagram DMs," Normani says, her voice muffled.

"I won't do that, I just want Camila's phone number."

There's silence then, and Ally waits for a beat before putting her hands on Normani's back over the covers and shaking her. "Maniiii," she whines, sure that it's only a matter of time before the girl gives.

 "Oh my God, if I tell you will you let me get over my hangover in peace?" Mani groans, reaching back to push Ally's hands away. "I swear we can't all drink like you without dying the next day, Ally."

"I'll even make you some of my hangover special," Ally offers, grinning, because she knows she's already won.

She distinctly remembers having asked for Camila's phone number last night, but she doesn't remember actually getting it - she just knows they'd been interrupted way too soon for her liking.  

A group of people had been pushed out back to smoke outside by one of the sorority chapter leaders, which had caused Ally and Camila to pull away from each other to get out of the way, and from then on they'd been stolen away from each other. 

She remembers Camila being dragged off by Dinah because of something to do with Lauren (or someone else?). She remembers it because she'd been holding on to Camila's wrist and leaning up to whisper by her ear, and Camila's lips looked puffy and swollen from Ally's kisses, her cheeks flushed, when they'd gotten interrupted. 

Ally only had enough time to drop a hasty kiss to the corner of Camila's mouth before Camila was dragged off against her will, and after that Ally hadn't seen her again (though she had kept an eye out for her as the party dwindled down).

And now, after much pondering in her own bed and scrolling through her contacts and recent messages trying to find it, she has Camila's number, rather than just having her on Facebook. The thought of having to poke Camila on Facebook to get her number has Ally cringing internally.

She saves Camila's contact to her own phone, resisting the temptation to go through her texts with Normani and dropping Mani's phone back onto her bedside drawer. She'll text Camila later, because she thinks Camila might also be nursing a hangover now.

And also, possibly, because she doesn't want to seem too forward and scare Camila off. Although after last night it might be a bit too late for not being forward.

"Have you already taken some Advil?" Ally asks Mani, trying to keep her voice soft, and she can just barely make out Mani nodding beneath her covers. "How about some cuddles?"

"Only if you stop talking," Normani grumbles, and Ally lets herself drop down next to her and press in against her back, because she herself could go for some more sleep now that she knows she's not going to have to resort to Facebook to ask Camila out.

*******

Camila gets there before Ally, and she can't get herself to stop picking up her phone from the table to check her texts again and again. She just keeps getting the urge to be sure that Ally had indeed invited her to grab a coffee together. It's at least the fourth time she checks that that is in fact what had happened as she sits at an empty table after telling the waitress she's waiting for someone before she orders.

And in fact, there it is - Ally had indeed texted her asking if she wanted to grab some coffee after her morning classes today. Not only that, but Ally had sent a winky emoji along with it, too.

 _And_  a kissy emoji when Camila had texted back a yes.

Camila's reread the same conversation and sent Mani at least three slightly frazzled messages to stress just how much she doesn't know what to do or how to act by the time Ally gets there. She notices Ally's arrival by chance when she raises her eyes from her phone in exasperation at Mani's unhelpful responses, and there Ally is, hurrying in with a bag slung across her shoulder and an apologetic and somewhat frazzled expression.

It all feel like it happens a little bit too fast - Ally hurries over, apologizing for being late and pressing a kiss to Camila's cheek, and in what feels like the same second she's also dropping her bag onto the booth and sliding in to sit across from Camila. 

Camila's still trying to get over the brush of Ally's lips against her own cheek, not to mention how good Ally's perfume smelled, and Ally's already sat across from her with a huge smile, tapping her fingers lightly on the table between them.

"Hi," Camila greets, blinking herself out of it, her voice coming out way too high-pitched to her own liking. She clears her throat as subtly as she can and smiles back at Ally, dropping her phone to the table and entwining her fingers to keep herself from fidgeting nervously.

She takes a moment to take in Ally's comfortable looking attire - her sweater is really cute, and Camila kind of wants to run her fingers over it to feel if it's as soft as it looks, but she forces herself to stay still, because that'd probably be a dumb thing to do.

Either way, Camila suddenly doesn't feel so bad for not dressing up too much before leaving her dorm (even if she'd stared at herself in the mirror for at least half an hour trying to decide whether or not her makeup could be considered light enough to give off the wrong impression - like she wasn't trying or, even worse, that she wasn't interested).

(When she'd texted Mani some pictures to be sure, Mani had said she looked great and that she definitely wasn't giving off any "I don't want this to go anywhere" vibes, which was what got Camila to stop fretting enough to actually leave her dorm.)

"Oh my gosh, how are you?" Ally asks, waving over a waitress before turning back around and grinning at Camila. "I'm so sorry I got caught up, have you been here long?"

"No, no, I actually just got here," Camila lies, because Ally doesn't need to know she's been sitting here like a nervous mess for the past fifteen minutes. "You look really nice," she adds, before she loses her nerve, because Ally's hair is lightly curled rather than straightened like it'd been the last time they'd seen each other, and her makeup is light enough that Camila doesn't feel self-conscious about her own.

"Aw, thank you! So do you," Ally beams, reaching out to cover Camila's hands with her own for a second before the waitress interrupts them and she pulls it back. "Oh, I'm actually- I could really go for something to eat, do you mind if I order something? Do you want something too?"

"Sure, yeah," Camila replies, although she feels so nervous that she's not sure she'll be able to force anything down. That being said, she doesn't want to make it weird and just sit there and watch as Ally eats. "Um, could you bring us a menu, please?" she asks the waitress, thanking her as she heads back and looking down at her own phone when it buzzes. "Sorry, Mani won't stop texting me..."

"Tell her she already gets enough of you, it's my turn to have you for myself now," Ally insists good naturedly, and Camila bites down on her own lip to keep back the grin that wants to come out at that response.

"It's okay, she can wait," Camila agrees, putting her phone aside after setting it to silent.

"Ooh, I feel important now," Ally says, raising her eyebrows and leaning in further against the table between them.

"Well, you are," Camila says, instantly feeling herself flush as Ally's smile widens in a way that has her eyes squinting adorably. The waitress stops beside their table and excuses herself as she extends a menu, and Camila realizes she'd only asked for one menu rather than two. "Oh, um. Sorry, shoot, I didn't ask for two. Um, do you-"

"No, it's okay, we can share," Ally says, turning a thank you the waitress' way. Camila's pushing the menu across the table so Ally can look it over first, when Ally pushes it back and stands up. "Actually, it's easier to just look at it together," Ally says, skipping over and sliding into the booth beside Camila. "There, much better," she adds as she lays the menu before them and starts running a finger down the list of items.

Camila presses her lips together to try to keep her smile down - Ally's definitely sat closer than strictly necessary, her arm pressed in against Camila's on the table and their knees brushing together slightly, and all Camila can do is breathe through the giddy feeling in her chest and try to focus on the menu long enough to pick something to order.

It rings through Camila's mind, multiple times as she relaxes into their conversation while they eat, that she's kissed Ally. Like, full on made out with her not two days ago. Camila even has the evidence on her neck, the make-up and strategic placing of her hair probably still not enough to fully hide the marks Ally had left on her skin.

Once that thought insinuates itself into her mind, it won't fucking leave. 

It rings through her mind when Ally laughs at Camila getting distracted by something in the street and missing her own mouth with her fork, and especially when Ally leans into her shoulder briefly as she laughs. It has Camila's breath stuttering when Ally places a hand on Camila's thigh and asks if she can have some of what Camila's having with eyes shining up at her.

And when Ally gets some whipped cream on the corner of her mouth and wipes it away with her fingertips before licking her lips, it's like a horn blares inside Camila's mind, reminding her of what it was like to have Ally pressed in against her, licking into her mouth and sharing heavy breaths.

Ally very much notices it, because there's this quiet moment when Ally looks back at her and flicks her eyes down to stare at Camila's mouth, too, and when Camila licks her lips in reaction, something settles between them - Camila's sure she's imagining it, but everything around them seem to slow down as Ally's leg presses in tighter against hers and they lean further into each other.

Their lips touch, and her heart lurches in her chest. It's a stark difference to the heated kisses they'd shared on the back porch of Ally's sorority house - there's no instant parting of mouths, no rough scraping of teeth; instead, there's the gentle touch of Ally's fingertips to Camila's cheek, the warmth of Ally's hip under her hand, and the soft press of their lips against each other's.

They pull back after a few moments, and Camila opens her eyes just as Ally's flutter open as well. She can't help the smile that comes to her as they look back at each other, still close enough she's tempted to kiss the crease of Ally's cheek as she smiles back at her. 

Ally blinks at her for a moment, then lets out the cutest giggle as she lets her fingers fall from Camila's face, and Camila averts her eyes and bites her tongue as she grins - there's a light feeling bubbling up her chest that is very much Ally's doing right now.

She lets Ally have the rest of her pie, because she keeps gushing about how good it is as she presses into Camila's side and lets out a sound that sounds very much like a moan when she gets what she calls a perfect bite, and Camila can't really resist  _that_.  

When Ally's phone buzzes where her leg is pressed against Camila's, Ally suddenly starts eating faster, nearly stuffing the last of the pie into her mouth.

"I'm sorry," Ally says sheepishly, as she drops the fork onto the empty plate and waves the waitress over while Camila watches her amusedly. "I have class, like, real soon, that's why I set up an alarm - I wish I could stay longer, though."

"It's okay," Camila says, if only because Ally's hand instantly drops to rub at her forearm after she taps something on her phone, and Ally's smile is genuine as she looks at her. When the waitress brings them their tab, Ally snatches it before Camila can try to reach for it.

"I've got it," she says when Camila starts to open her mouth. "Can you reach me my bag?"

"Look, I'm a broke college student," Camila points out as she gets up and reaches over the table, lifting Ally's bag with an oof when she realizes how heavy it is. "If you offer to pay, I'm going to accept it," she says as she turns around to hand Ally her bag, catching Ally just as she snatches her eyes up to her face abruptly.

"It's okay," Ally notes after clearing her throat and averting her eyes to rifle through her bag. "I guess you'll just have to make it up to me next time."

"Deal," Camila says, working very hard not to squeal at the confirmation that there would be a next time, because that - or, rather, this whole thing has been more than she could've ever hoped for.

It's what keeps going through her mind as Ally walks with her back to Camila's dorm building (apparently it's on the way to Ally's next class) - that the girl holding on to her wrist and hand is the same girl Camila's been crushing on ever since she'd seen her goofing off with Dinah on Snapchat a couple of months back.

Not to mention it being the same girl who had sat on Camila's lap not two days ago and kissed her so hard Camila's head had spun for hours (though the alcohol may have played a part in that, too).

It almost doesn't seem like it's true - glancing at Ally beside her as they near her dorm room after Ally says she'll walk her to her room, taking note of her sweet smile and soft eyes, it feels hard to reconcile that with the image of Ally gyrating her hips at the party, or her grinding them down on Camila's lap as she licked into her mouth that night.

They stop before the door of Camila's dorm room once she mumbles they're there, and Ally turns to face her, still clutching her hand.

"I have to head to class now," Ally says ruefully, glancing between Camila and her door and pressing her lips together. "I'll text you later, though?"

"Yeah, or I'll text you. I mean, you can text me, that's cool. Or call. Um. I mean. Not that you have to, or- I just mean I'll definitely- I want to talk to you- um, see you?... Later..." Camila rambles, trailing off lamely when Ally runs her thumb over Camila's knuckles, and Camila wants to kiss her again  _so bad_.

Ally laughs, shakes her head, and tugs Camila closer by the hand, reaching up once she's close to cup her neck and pull her down into a kiss.

Honestly, every time Ally kisses her, Camila thinks it's the best kiss she's ever had, but it's getting harder and harder to keep track of her favorite things about each one. But this, getting to cup Ally's cheeks and kiss her goodbye in front of her door, it feels  _real_.

It's not a peck in the middle of a busy diner, and Camila doesn't have the haze of alcohol altering her senses. It's amazing, is what it is, and she's having trouble to hold back her smile as Ally reaches up to wrap her arms around Camila's neck, body pressing in tight against her.

"I need to get to class," Ally mumbles as she pulls back slightly, her arms loosening slightly from around Camila's neck as she sighs.

"Okay," Camila whispers, licking her lips and tasting Ally's lipbalm on them. Ally's eyes follow the motion, and Camila gets a stark reminder of what it was like to kiss her at the party when Ally presses up to kiss her again, deeply, fingers scratching at the back of Camila's neck.

"Crap," Ally mumbles against her mouth, sighing, and pulling back with a drag of her teeth across Camila's bottom lip. "I need to go," she insists, pulling back and putting some distance between them.

There's this moment then when Ally's eyes drop to where she still has a hand on Camila's shoulder - she brushes Camila's hair back and runs her fingers lightly down her neck, and,  _okay_ , that... The smirk that plays on Ally's lips and the way she looks up at Camila with dark eyes is definitely not fair.

"I'm sorry about that," Ally says, fingertips trailing over the spot where Camila's still very aware of the dark marks Ally had left on her neck.

"No you're not," Camila notes wryly, and Ally throws her head back as she laughs.

"You're right, I'm not," she says, pressing up and dropping a kiss to the corner of Camila's mouth before pulling away from her completely, hand trailing down Camila's arm as she does. "I'll make it up to you!" she calls as she backs away, and it's ridiculous how smitten Camila feels already.

When she shrieks to herself in absolute giddiness after closing the door to her dorm room, she doesn't realize she's not alone until she turns around to find her roommate Hailee staring at her amusedly with a friend snorting out a laugh beside her.

She doesn't even mind it, though, not really. The flush of embarrassment across her cheeks doesn't even begin to compare to the joy bursting through her as she recounts her date - her date with  _Ally Brooke_.

(Mani gets a few texts full of keysmashes as Camila completely ignores the texts she'd gotten from her during the date and tries to let out some of her giddiness while Hailee and her friend study on the other side of the room.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is [morgandexter](http://morgandexter.tumblr.com)'s fault because she sent me a message basically going "imagine Ally and Camila making out like so", and then I took it and turned into a thing beyond what it was supposed to be.  
> (And then [clauds](http://heroau.tumblr.com) made sure that my sentences made actual sense, which is very much appreciated.)
> 
> We have a couple of chapters ahead of us. Hit me up on [tumblr](http://generalfrings.tumblr.com) or [twitter](http://twitter.com/GenFrings) if you'd like!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please note that this story's rating has changed from its original one.
> 
> Shout out to [clauds](http://heroau.tumblr.com/) for being the best beta.

Ally's laughing at Dinah's attempts to push Lauren away from her on the couch when her phone buzzes on her thigh, and she turns it over with a smile to check her texts.

Camila's been texting her the whole night through some Netflix marathon she's doing with her dorm roommate. Apparently it's a tradition for her and Hailee, so Ally is at Dinah and Lauren's apartment to hang out for the night.

Anyway, apparently Ally having never watched Gilmore Girls is a crime, and Camila’s new mission in life is to let Ally know all the reasons why she should watch the show and make her life worth living - which means, of course, that she’s been texting Ally through all the episodes.

Ally hadn't texted her back saying " _YOU already make life worth living_ ", because they've only been going out for like two weeks now - even though it’s not like she would be lying. Camila has been making her smile literally all the time, not to mention make her whole body feel tingly with sheer happiness, and that _matters_.

Which brings her to Dinah making kissy noises at her while Ally taps her response to Camila's latest update on the list of reasons why Gilmore Girls is the best thing not yet in Ally's life.

"Stop," Ally laughs as she puts her phone away again and looks up to find Lauren grinning at her as she snuggles into Dinah.

"You haven't stopped smiling at that phone in weeks," Dinah says, putting a hand over Lauren's face. "It's disgusting."

"It's adorable," Lauren adds, pushing Dinah's hand away.

Ally's phone buzzes again, and she waves a hand Dinah's way when she starts making kiss noises at her again.

They're not wrong, really - she and Camila have been texting a lot since they started going out. She's just really into this goofball of a girl, and getting to know her is more than worth putting up with her terrible jokes from time to time.

That being said, the latest text on her phone has her drowning out the question Lauren was asking her while she stares at her screen, blinking and reading it over again when she thinks she hasn't read it right.

_hailee just abandoned me thru our netflix marathon to go a party :(  
do u wanna come over?_

"Um," Ally says, stomach flipping at the implication. Like. Camila's just made it explicitly clear that she's alone in her dorm and asked her to come over. "I gotta- Um. I think I'm gonna go. Where's my purse?"

"What," Dinah exclaims indignantly. "You're gonna leave me alone with this loser? I thought we were going out!"

"I'll catch you guys later," Ally promises, putting her phone down on the couch and getting up to look for wherever she'd dropped her purse.

"Get her phone," Dinah exclaims urgently as Ally steps away from the couch, pushing Lauren towards it when Ally stops and turns back towards them. "Lauren, get her phone!"

"No!"

There's a scream as Ally throws herself towards the couch and lands halfway on top of Lauren as Dinah snatches Ally's phone from Lauren's hand just in time, leaning away from them as she scrolls through it.

"Dinah," Ally whines, trying to reach for it without success as Lauren groans from under her and adjusts her so her hip is not jabbing into her stomach.

"Oooh, girl," Dinah laughs, tilting the phone Lauren's way so she can read what's on the screen as well. "Did she literally just invite you over to Netflix and chill?" She laughs harder still, leaning further out of Ally's reach as she types something out on Ally's phone. "Get it," she snickers, and Ally feels Lauren giggling from underneath her. 

"Shut up," Ally mutters, snatching her phone from Dinah's hand once she lets her have it, rolling away from them and looking down at her phone to see Dinah had texted  _be right there babe ;)_  to Camila. "Dinah," she groans, typing a hasty message Camila's way to say that had been Dinah's doing, but that she's heading over.

"I thought you'd already tapped that," Dinah says as Ally gets up from the couch after throwing her an annoyed look.

"I haven't  _tapped_ anything," Ally grumbles, locating her her purse and shouldering it, checking herself in the hallway mirror and running a hand through her hair.

"But you're gonna! Ayooo," Dinah hollers to the sound of Lauren's awfully ill-concealed giggles.

"I hate you both," Ally deadpans, turning to leave once she's satisfied with her reflection, shutting the apartment door behind herself and muffling Lauren's call for her to be safe and Dinah's _she's not talking about driving_.

It's already night out, and she's somewhat glad for her earlier decision to drive over rather than walk. The trek from Lauren and Dinah's apartment to campus is not long at all, but she can feel nerves fluttering in her stomach as she gets in her car and straps herself in.

She itches to check her phone to see if Camila's sent her anything else, but at every red light she stops at, she reaches for her phone to check, and there's nothing. That leaves her to toss her phone back into the passenger seat and wring her hands on the steering wheel, head racing with pictures of how the night could go.

Listen, Ally's neither a virgin nor a saint, and Camila's really gorgeous. Like, very much so - especially when she's all flushed, lips red from Ally's kisses and her dark hair mussed from Ally running her hands through it when they make out.

And Camila doesn't quite seem to realize just how gorgeous Ally finds her - from her full lips that Ally loves kissing to the slim curve of her waist, to the definite curve of her ass that Ally has been caught staring at more than once, not to mention her cute grin and the scrunch of her nose when she finds something adorable, Ally hasn't been able to get enough.

Which doesn't make it surprising that Ally's wanted to go there probably since the first night she kissed Camila, but even despite that, they haven't gotten to it yet. 

Usually it's because they're interrupted, either by their schedules or roommates or something. But there's also this hesitance to Camila, sometimes - just a slight one, like when Ally looks to her for confirmation before trailing her hand beneath her top, but it's enough that it's there, and enough for Ally to notice it.

Ally would never, ever try to rush Camila into anything. Ally likes sex, but she's realized that she really likes Camila, too, and she wants to give this thing between them a try - which is a big factor on why she pulls back if Camila hesitates at her touches at any time, and also why she tries not to roll her eyes too hard when Camila looks at herexpectantly after making a so-called joke.

She snaps out of her thoughts and realizes she's already getting to the college campus, and she curses under her breath when she nearly misses her entrance. Soon enough she's parking and checking herself in the rear-view mirror one last time before getting out of the car and sending up a quick thanks for having worn matching underwear today.

It's early enough in the night that she's able to enter Camila's dorm building by just showing her student ID card rather than need to be signed in, and these repeated signs of good luck so far have her needing to stop for a moment outside Camila's door to take it all in. She shakes her hands out to get rid of some of her excitement mixed in with nerves, and gathers herself before lifting her fist to the door.

" _Come on in, it's opened_ ," comes Camila's muffled reply from inside after Ally knocks, and Ally takes one last deep breath before pushing the door open and heading inside.

"Hey!" Camila calls excitedly, and Ally takes a moment to let her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room as she closes the door behind herself. "Hold on, this is where Rory's supposed to..."

Camila trails off, then, a finger poised up in the air as she stares fixedly at her laptop screen. Ally blinks as she takes in the image of Camila lying in bed propped up against some pillows, illuminated by her laptop screen, in a pair of pajama pants and what looks to be a white tank top.

They both remain frozen like that for a few moments as muffled voices come from Camila's laptop, Ally because she's waiting for an invitation and wondering if she should've pushed her cleavage more tightly together in her top, and Camila because she's too focused on the scene playing out. Camila finally hits pause once the scene ends and lowers her hand, grinning up at Ally. 

"You look really beautiful," she says, taking in Ally's nice looking skirt and top. "Do you want something more comfortable to wear? You can borrow some of my stuff if you want. And then I can finally introduce you to one Lorelai Gilmore." She pauses, scrunching her eyebrows slightly as she thinks. "Well, the two of them, I guess."

"Oh, um." Ally pauses, feeling like her brain is slowly trying to get itself through a conclusion as she forces herself to take in Camila's lazy attire and how she keeps her laptop propped on her stomach as she grins up at Ally no differently than she would if Ally had greeted her in the library. "Oh."

Ally's stomach drops, because she's suddenly one hundred percent sure that Camila had not meant what Ally had thought she'd meant by those texts. She tries not to make it obvious how that has all the excitement she'd built up draining out of her, but Camila seems to notice her change in demeanor, because she sits up a little straighter against her pillow.

"Um, we can watch something else if you want," Camila says, looking up at her unsurely. "I was kidding about not liking you as long as you didn't watch Gilmore Girls, you know," she adds, with this timid smile that makes Ally feel like a terrible person.

Camila had obviously genuinely been looking forward to just spend time with her and be comfortable with her, and Ally had managed to somehow be disappointed that it wasn't about sex. Ally makes a mental note to slap herself when she gets the chance, because this is not what she's about. 

The important thing is that Camila wants her here, and Ally  _does_ want to be here, too, obviously, regardless of anything further. "No, that's okay," Ally says, shaking her head and putting her purse down on the floor at the foot of Camila's singles bed. "I think I'll take you up on that clothes offer, though. Do you have anything I can wear?"

Camila grins, her expression lightening at Ally's consent, and she puts her laptop aside before hopping off the bed to look for something that wouldn't be too big on Ally.

Camila won't lie - she thought she'd somehow screwed something up there, because Ally had looked, like,  _really_ unhappy for a moment. And Camila doesn't want to screw anything up, she really doesn't.

These past couple of weeks have been almost like a dream -  _Ally'_ s almost like a dream, and Camila doesn't want to risk coming off as pushy or annoying about absolutely anything (even if it's just Gilmore Girls). 

Camila genuinely feels like she can be herself around Ally, so that's what she does, but she knows she has a tendency to run her mouth or push a joke too far sometimes (or so she's been told by an ex), so she just. Wants to not ruin anything with Ally by doing that.

She brings Ally some of her own shorts and a tee as Ally takes her shoes off and pushes them under Camila's bed. "Are these okay?"

"They're fine," Ally tells her, taking the clothes and brushing a hand over Camila's. "One more thing," Ally says when Camila starts pulling back, tightening her grip on Camila's hand.

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for calling me over," Ally says, with this really sweet smile that has Camila instantly perking up and smiling back at her. Ally leans up and presses a soft kiss to her lips, lingering for a moment before pulling back and clutching the clothes to herself. "Do you mind if I change in here?"

"No, yeah, of course!" Camila says, making a show of covering her eyes and turning her back to Ally, hearing Ally's giggle from behind her as she does. "Wouldn't want you getting lost between here and the locker room, since you're so used to the sorority house and all. Do you even remember having to sleep in one of these twin beds, since you're, like, sorority royalty?"

Camila can't see her, but at the scoff Ally lets out from behind her, she knows she's rolling her eyes, and Camila can't help but grin. She listens as Ally rummages around, and forces herself to keep her hand pressed over her eyes until Ally clears her throat and says she's decent.

And, like. Camila's never quite understood what people have about their significant others wearing their clothes, but when she turns around to find Ally in her clothes... she gets it. She totally gets it, because the shorts that were too short on herself look perfect on Ally, and although her t-shirt hangs loosely on her, Camila can still very much see that Ally's not wearing a bra.

She clears her throat and ignores the clench in her gut when Ally steps in closer while bringing the collar of the shirt up to her nose. "This smells like you," Ally says, dropping the shirt back down and grinning. "Cozy."

"Right, um. So." Camila can't think of what else to say, so she heads to her bed and lifts the laptop from it, patting the spot next to herself and looking at Ally expectantly.

"Speaking of cozy," Ally says, laughing, lifting herself onto the bed and crawling over until she's pressed into Camila's side. "I'd kind of forgotten the tight fit in these beds... your mattress is comfier than I remember, though."

"My dad insisted I get it switched for one he bought," Camila mumbles, adjusting herself slightly down the bed and wrapping an arm around Ally's waist, smiling as Ally nuzzles in close, arm thrown over Camila's midsection.

Ally hums, cheek resting against Camila's shoulder, and Camila presses a kiss to the top of her head before adjusting the laptop over her own hips and turning the screen so that Ally can see it as well. "Get ready for some awesomeness."

It's awesome, alright.

Not the show itself, though Camila of course will always defend the awesomeness of Gilmore Girls, but that's not the big thing here. No, what's awesome is slowly and lazily sliding down further on her bed with Ally pressed in against her, nearly half on top of her as they watch the show.

What's awesome is the smell of Ally's shampoo tickling her nose and the feeling of Ally's warm breath brushing against her neck when Ally laughs at something that happens on the screen. It’s awesome getting to have her arm wrapped around Ally and to feel Ally's whole body pressed in against her own, and to have Ally running her fingers distractedly over Camila's hip where Camila's top has ridden up from sliding down the bed.

It's very much awesome indeed, and it has Camila's heart beating steadily and contently in her chest as she loses track of how many episodes they've watched - at least two, for sure - by the time Ally's turned further into her, her breath beating steadily against the curve of Camila's neck as she certainly does not pay that much attention to the show.

"Mila," Ally whispers, hand resting heavy on the curve of Camila's waist as she presses a kiss to Camila's neck, causing shivers to run down Camila's back. "Can I... admit something?"

"Of course," Camila whispers back, cheek resting on top of Ally's head and fingers running absently down the curve of her waist.

Ally remains silent for a few moments, like she's gathering herself before she says what’s on her mind, and if they weren't so comfortable and molded into each other, Camila would be getting nervous right about now. As it is, she just lets herself breathe Ally in, and waits.

"When you called me over tonight, I..." Ally stops, lets out a heavy breath into the curve of Camila's neck. "I kind of expected something else."

"Something else?"

"Yeah, I mean. You know." Ally's voice goes softer then, and Camila lowers the volume of the laptop on reflex to hear her better. "You asked me to come over because your roommate wasn't here, and I... Well. You know."

Camila doesn't know, but then she does. The expression  _Netflix and chill_  crosses her mind all at once, and suddenly she doesn't quite remember how to breathe with how close they are. "Oh," she breathes out, fingers frozen where they'd been running down Ally's waist.

"Yeah," Ally whispers. "I don't- expect anything. I just thought I'd be honest," she adds, and Camila's still trying to stop her head from spinning to deal with how tiny her voice sounds.

"Right. Okay," Camila squeaks, and Ally hugs herself impossibly tighter against her, and something about it has Camila's heart staggering back into some semblance of a rhythm in her chest, her breathing coming a little easier. She presses a kiss to Ally's hair and resumes the trail of her fingers around her shoulder and down the curve of her waist.

Her mouth still feels dry at the sudden realization of what she’d apparently implied when calling Ally over, though - not only for having given that impression, but that Ally had gotten that message and apparently been up for it. Camila's now officially gone from lazy and comfy (and, if she’d being honest, pretty ready for a nap), to being entirely too aware of Ally's chest pressed against her and the occasional brush of Ally’s lips to her neck.

She desperately tries to wrap her mind around what she wants to say in the near silence of the room, and her voice comes out hoarse when she finally asks, "Can I confess something, too?"

Ally hums against her, and Camila's heart staggers.

"I wouldn't... I wouldn't exactly mind if that's how the night ended up going," she admits, cursing herself internally at how shaky she sounds.

"Oh," Ally says after a moment of silence, and Camila's sure she's not imagining how erratic Ally's breaths suddenly feel against her neck.

They both allow themselves a moment to let that sink in, and Camila's gut is twisting so hard in anxiety that she's pretty sure she could pass out, but Ally's solid and warm against her, and Camila is somehow not kissing her.

"Ally," she whispers, "can I kiss you now?"

The chuckle Ally lets out sounds raspy to her ears, and then Ally's pulling herself up from her shoulder and looking at her, shaking her head with a fond smile that she presses to her lips when she kisses her.

Camila appreciates the way they keep the kiss soft for a few moments, just light slow brushes of their lips together, but Ally's hand is warm where it rests on her stomach, and her hair soft under Camila's fingers when she cups her neck, and the sudden expectation in the air has Camila wanting more.

And Ally seems to be feeling the same as she adjusts herself further up against Camila, breathing heavily as their mouths part into each others', her hand slipping beneath Camila's top to clutch at her waist as Camila lets out a tiny unintentional noise at the way Ally licks into her mouth.

It's when Ally tries to reposition herself above her that Camila pulls back, urgently, because she feels her laptop slipping from her stomach and almost certainly headed towards the ground. "Shit," she hisses, when her abrupt movement has her teeth clacking against Ally's. "Ow, sorry, wait-"

Ally pulls back with a wince, bringing her hand to her lips before reaching for the laptop lying sideways on the bed before Camila gets to it. "Okay, let's not do _that_ ," Ally says, kneeling back as she hands the laptop over to Camila.

"Thanks, sorry," Camila mutters embarrassedly, shoving the laptop still opened onto her bedside table and ignoring the sound of something clattering to the ground (probably her glasses) as she slides back to her spot on the bed.

"Hey, it's okay," Ally chuckles, not unkindly, shimmying closer on her knees and cupping Camila's cheeks in her hands.

Camila lets out a shaky breath at the soft look on Ally's face, illuminated by the light coming from the laptop - her nerves feel at an all-time high, her stomach churning in embarrassment, but Ally runs her fingers over her cheeks and smiles, and it gets easier to breathe again.

"Come here," Ally says softly, leaning in for a slow kiss, and Camila raises her hands to spread her palms over Ally's back, pulling her closer until Ally's kneeling above her, thighs bracketing Camila’s hips. "I like you so much," Ally mumbles as she settles onto Camila's lap, breath hot against her mouth as she wraps her arms around Camila's neck.

"Fuck," Camila gasps, because this is awfully reminiscent of the first time they'd made out, only this time it's ten times better.

It's better because not only is she completely aware of what's happening, but they're in the comfort of her own room rather than on a chilly porch, and she really likes Ally - likes her in a way she couldn't when she'd just been crushing on her back then.

She's spent the past couple of weeks getting to know her, and knows not only that Ally shivers when Camila runs her fingertips over the low of her back just so, but also that Ally's sensitive and easily startled by loud noises, and that she has a real big sense of faith and that she loves a lot of the same music Camila loves, but also has a playlist on her phone full of classical music and opera concerts.

And all of that  _matters_ \- it matters because it makes the sighs Ally lets out into their kisses feel that much more intimate and personal to Camila, it makes Camila feel certain that this is more than just alcohol fueled desire.

It has Camila easily melting into Ally's touches, tilting her head back when Ally parts from her mouth to drag kisses down her neck, her heart hammering in her chest as she drags her hands up under Ally's t-shirt to run along her back.

"Do you want me to take this off?" Ally asks with a rush of breath by her ear, reaching down for her own t-shirt, and Camila's head is not clear enough right now to hold back her immediate response.

"God, yes," is what comes out of Camila's mouth, and she'd be more embarrassed if she weren't too focused on the sight of Ally grabbing the t-shirt and slowly dragging it up and over her own head.

Camila loses her breath somewhere along the point where Ally's belly button is exposed, and her heart has certainly stopped beating when Ally's chest is bare before her, but then Ally is throwing the t-shirt aside, her hair coming down to rest messily over her shoulders as she looks at her, and Camila's never felt more alive.

“Fuck,” Camila breathes out before their mouths are meeting messily, Ally’s hands framing her face as she presses back in against her.

“You know you can touch me,” Ally says against Camila’s lips, apparently taking notice of how Camila clutches her waist tightly without moving her hands, still trying to work through everything.

Camila’s only response is breathing harshly against her mouth, so Ally reaches down and grabs Camila’s hands in her own, gently guiding them over past her ribs and towards her breasts. Camila drops her gaze to watch and make sure that the feeling of Ally’s breasts in her hands isn't an illusion - and indeed, as she feels the soft weight of them in her palms as she cups them, Ally’s fingers leaving her own to push her hair back, it feels very much like a dream.

But Ally’s sigh is real by her ear when Camila runs a thumb over a puckered nipple, and when Camila leans in and presses her lips to Ally’s collarbone, palms spreading over her breasts, Ally’s skin is warm and soft under Camila’s touch. Camila’s starting to believe that this is really happening when Ally hushes Camila’s name and hugs her close, arching into her when Camila licks at her skin before wrapping her lips around a nipple, sucking harder when Ally buries her hands in Camila’s hair.

“You’re so gorgeous,” Camila says, raggedly, as she pulls back with a graze of her teeth against Ally’s nipple, wrapping a hand around Ally’s waist to press against her lower back and bring her in against herself. She presses her lips to the curve of Ally’s jaw, breathing in her perfume before Ally turns her head to pull her into a hard kiss.

“I want to see you,” Ally gasps, running her fingers through Camila’s hair and down her shoulders. “Can I-”

“Yeah,” Camila says, nodding and stealing one more kiss before Ally starts pushing Camila’s top upwards.

There’s this brief moment when their gazes break as Ally pushes Camila’s top over her head, where Camila’s chest goes tight and insecurity flares up in her. She’s suddenly all too aware of how small her own breasts are, how they certainly wouldn't fill her grasp like Ally’s do hers, and how much thinner her figure is- but then Camila’s top is off, and Ally’s looking at her with as much want as the one thrumming in Camila, and the breath that had gotten caught in her chest eases out of her all at once.

Ally mutters a  _beautiful_ just before she crashes her mouth to Camila’s, and the press of their chests against each other’s is nothing short of perfect, if brief - Ally pulls back all too soon, but her hands run up Camila’s stomach to palm at her breasts as she drags her mouth along Camila’s shoulder.

Ally shimmies further down as she licks and kisses down Camila’s body - her hands pull at Camila’s hips, and when Camila doesn't get the message, she pulls back slightly and looks up at her. “Scoot down a little, baby,” she murmurs, tugging again on Camila’s hips, and Camila drags herself further down on the bed until she’s lying on her back and her head is pressed into her pillow, Ally holding herself with an elbow above her and a look Camila’s never seen on her face before.

They look at each other for a long moment, breathing raggedly, and Ally cups Camila’s chin softly in her hand when she leans down to kiss her, slowly. “I really like you so much,” Ally hushes, running her knuckles softly along Camila’s cheek.

“I like you too,” Camila mutters, almost shy at the warm feeling flaring in her chest at the soft look in Ally’s eyes and the feeling of her fingertips trailing down Camila’s neck.

Ally’s lips quirk up into a smile, and the next kiss she presses to Camila’s mouth feels teasing - she leans down to press against her, parts her lips over Camila’s, and Camila feels like she’s being drawn in, pressing up to chase Ally’s lips and lick into her mouth when Ally breathes hotly against her.

The tug Ally gives to the waistband of her pants is teasing, too - she lets the elastic snap back against Camila’s hips with a smile that should be illegal, and when Camila reaches down to start dragging her pants down her hips herself, Ally pushes her hands away and hooks her fingers back into her waistband.

Ally drags herself down as she pulls Camila’s pants down - her hair tickles at Camila’s skin as she nips and sucks at Camila’s skin along the way, and Camila stares down with bated breath to watch as Ally rubs her nose over Camila’s belly before licking down her navel and pulling back to finish dragging her pants off.

Seeing Ally topless and in Camila’s shorts knelt at the foot of her bed, running her fingers lightly around Camila’s ankles and looking at her so intently, feels like something straight of her dreams. 

That being said, in her dreams Camila would probably be wearing nicer underwear and be slightly more sure of how smooth her legs must be (though she’s pretty sure she moisturized yesterday, right?), and she’d probably also have more game, rather than shivering on the spot as Ally drags her hands up the inside of her legs and slides over to hover above her.

She wouldn't trade how real Ally feels as she settles on top of Camila for anything, though. Not with how Ally drags her fingers down Camila's body and settles between her parted thighs, hair falling around them as she covers Camila's mouth with her own with a low hum.

What she would trade, though, is the feeling of the shorts Ally's wearing for Ally's skin against her own, which she states - or rather gasps, hands sliding down to the low of Ally’s back and further, until she’s clutching Ally’s ass as Ally sucks at the curve of her neck. “Get these off, Alz,” Camila asks, dragging her fingers from Ally’s ass and trying to tug the shorts down her hips as best as possible.

“Hold on,” Ally says, pulling back hastily and letting cool air rush against Camila’s skin where they’d been pressed together. She sits back as she hastily shoves her shorts down and off her legs, and Camila doesn't realize Ally’s pushed her underwear off as well until Ally moves back over her and straddles her thigh, and - oh.

“Fuck,” Camila breathes out, because Ally is bare and warm and  _wet_ against her thigh, and Camila is so gay. “Ally, shit,” she gasps, because Ally has an arm propped up beside her head as she looks down at her heatedly and presses down onto Camila’s thigh with purpose, and Camila can hardly decide where she wants to touch her the most.

Ally’s eyes flutter closed when Camila settles her hands on Ally’s hips and pushes her thigh up against her, and then Ally stutters out a gasp as she slides against Camila. “This is how you make me feel,” Ally says, lips brushing against Camila’s cheek as she breathes harshly. Her hand trails from Camila’s cheek, down her chest with a flicker of her fingers over Camila’s nipple, and a scratch of nails down her navel, "do you..."

Ally trails off just as her fingertips stroke Camila over her underwear, and Camila inhales sharply. Whatever Ally's question was going to be, it's certainly been answered by the warmth at her fingertips, and by the jerk of Camila's thigh when Ally rubs more intently.

"Shit," Ally murmurs, watches intently as Camila bites on her lip, feels the dampness at her fingertips increase as she presses tight circles over her through her underwear.

She brings her fingers away, ignores Camila's whimper of disagreement with a soothing kiss to her lips as she slips her hand inside Camila's underwear instead. Ally feels her gut clench when she's met with the warm feeling of Camila against her fingers - soft and silky wet, smooth as she glides her fingers further down as they share heavy breaths.

Camila's mouth is parted and inviting as her eyes flutter closed, and Ally covers it with her own as she rubs over her and grinds down on her thigh, hearing and feeling the hitches of her breath when something feels especially good.

When she presses her fingers against her entrance, Camila lifts a hand to grab at the back of Ally's neck, and Ally pauses. Camila lets her head drop down against her pillow, breaking their kiss and nodding when Ally leans in to press her forehead against hers.

The instant Ally moves and slowly presses two fingers inside Camila, it feels like almost too much at once - there's the instant drop of Camila's jaw as she lets out a loud gasp at the sink of Ally's fingers into wet heat, and Ally feels a shudder run down her entire body, her own hips jerking down onto Camila's thigh in reaction to Camila clenching around her fingers.

Ally works hard to try and catch her breath as she pulls her fingers back, focuses on dragging her fingertips along Camila's walls and pressing her palm against her as much as possible - it's frustrating, however, because her hand is still crammed into Camila's underwear, limiting her movements.

"This- wait," Ally groans, pulling back in frustration and sliding down to pull Camila's underwear down her hips quickly. Camila lifts her hips and reaches down to help her, kicking her underwear off once it's by her ankles and pulling Ally back over to her.

It feels messy, then. Their mouths clash together, and Ally's hair gets all over their faces and between their kiss before Camila helps her push it back over her shoulders, and Camila feels herself getting sweatier by the second as the air around them gets stuffy.

It doesn't really matter though, because Ally's soon curling her fingers back into her and pleasure curls low in Camila's gut, spreading all the way down to her toes, and  _fuck_.

"Like that?" Ally pants, and all Camila can do is moan her assent, scrambling for Ally's hips to position her above her thigh, because it feels _so_ good, and she wants, no, _needs_ Ally to feel good too.

Ally gladly sinks into Camila's touch, cursing when Camila pushes up against her and helps her rub against her thigh. Her eyes drop closed and she presses her forehead to Camila's temple as she grinds down more urgently, trying to chase her own orgasm with the grind of her hips just as much as she tries to bring Camila to hers with the push and pull of her fingers.

Camila's whimpers get more erratic and her grip goes from purposeful on Ally's hips to desperately clutching at Ally's back as Ally speeds up the thrust of her fingers into her, and Ally gives up on the kiss she'd tried to initiate when all they can do is breathe heavily into each other's mouths.

The sounds around them ring in Camila's ears and have her head spinning - from the lewd slap of Ally's hand between her legs and Ally's gasps by her ear, to the slight squeak of her cheap mattress and her own husked moans, Camila gets lost.

All that anchors her is Ally, and the increased tightening in her own gut that has her chest heaving as she gasps for air and moans Ally's name. Her entire body buzzes, hips straining off the bed as she starts to falter on the edge of her orgasm, and she doesn't know what she needs to push her off, she just knows she  _needs_ it.

"Come on, baby," Ally husks by her ear as Camila slams her eyes shut and jerks her hips up into her touch. "That's it," Ally murmurs, nipping at Camila's jaw and ignoring the strain on her forearm as she takes in Camila's short, high-pitched moans, abandons the chase for her own orgasm against her to focus on bringing Camila over.

"Ally-  _fuck_ -"

Camila's voice catches on a garbled moan and her hips jerk abruptly when the tightness in her chest uncoils all at once, bursting behind her eyelids as all her breath leaves her and is replaced by pleasure. Ally's sure she's never seen anything more beautiful than Camila's flushed face and parted lips as she comes, and she makes sure to take it all in as Camila arches her into her with a small whine.

Camila sinks back down into the bed when her muscles loosen all at once, gasping for breath as Ally peppers kisses along her jaw and keeps her hand pressed tightly against her as she blinks back the remains of her orgasm.

"Holy fuck," Camila breathes out, swallowing thickly and smiling at the husky giggle Ally presses against her cheek.

"You got that right," Ally says, finally pulling her hand back from between Camila's legs and wiping it on the sheets beside her.

"Oh my God," Camila says, dazedly, not even caring how dopey she might seem right now, because her heart's still struggling to go back to normal in her chest as she turns her head to catch Ally's mouth in a lazy kiss.

Ally reaches up to cup her cheeks as she kisses her languidly, and when Camila catches the smell of herself on Ally's fingers, it brings her to the stark realization of how wantonly Ally's hips are grinding down against her.

There's this frustrated, almost whining edge to Ally's murmurs against her lips that causes Camila to reach up for Ally's hands and look up at her, taking in the absolute flushed tint to her cheeks. 

"Did you...?" Camila asks, slowly, and when Ally shakes her head and presses back down for another heated kiss, Camila's sure she's never wanted anything more than to see Ally unravel under her touch. "Let's switch," she says then, decisively.

It takes some maneuvering around the thin bed, but soon enough they're falling back into each other, Ally on her back beneath her, and Camila brushes Ally's hair from her face tenderly, pressing a brief kiss to her lips before starting to drag her mouth down her body.

"You're so sexy," Camila says, pressing her open mouth to Ally's chest as Ally clutches her shoulder.

"Mila," Ally breathes, looking down at Camila as she tugs teasingly at one of her nipples with her teeth. "No offense, but I- I'm there, I really don't think I need any foreplay right now," she admits, and Camila grins up at her with raised eyebrows.

"Oh, really?" Camila asks, running her hands down Ally’s hips and over her thighs to spread them further apart as she shimmies down further along her body. "You sure about that?" she says, pressing open mouthed kisses down her stomach.

"Stop teasing," Ally groans. She doesn't  _beg_ \- the hint of a whine on her voice is purely because of how on edge she feels, her body thrumming with want, the pulsing between her legs almost enough to get her to reach her hand between her legs and finish herself off.

Only almost, though, because Camila's looking up at her with a teasing glint in her eyes, her mouth trailing further down until she's settled between Ally's parted thighs and nipping at the inside of her thigh, and Ally's chest heaves with anticipation.

When Camila's warm breath hits her, Ally exhales forcefully, murmurs Camila's name and watches as Camila glances up at her and hooks her hands around her thighs before pressing her parted mouth to her.

"Oh my God," Ally moans, loudly, her head dropping back against the pillow no matter how much she wants to watch as her hips jerk against her will at the feeling of Camila's mouth on her.

She buries her fingers in Camila's hair, scratches at her scalp, and all she can do is moan. She's throbbing with want, and she can feel more than hear Camila's moan against her as she runs her tongue over her.

"Fuck, Ally," Camila mutters throatily, pulling back just enough to swallow the wetness on her tongue before she presses back in, looking up to watch the heave of Ally's chest as Camila licks over her experimentally. 

Camila's head spins at the smell and taste of Ally overwhelming her senses, and she feels like she's being sloppy in her execution as she tries to find what's supposed to feel better to Ally, teasing her tongue over her entrance but hesitating.

Ally tugs on her hair with her fingers, and Camila lets herself be guided willingly, until she's licking up and around Ally's clit and feeling Ally's fingers tighten on her hair when she wraps her mouth around her and sucks.

"No, just-" Ally mutters, and Camila tries to first circle her tongue around her, then stroke firmly along her clit, and then- " _Ah_ , fuck,  _yes,_ like that-"

A triumphant feeling swells in Camila's chest as she keeps up the rhythm that has Ally's hips jerking hard enough that Camila has to wrap her arm around them and press herself in tighter against her, looking up to watch the arch of Ally's back as Ally's grip on her hair gets tight enough to hurt.

"Faster," Ally gasps then, and Camila complies with a hum, moaning against her when Ally's thighs start trembling around her, her foot digging in harder where she's hooked it against Camila's back.

Ally pulls one of her hands from Camila's hair to grip at the pillow beside her head, and the moan she lets out when her body catapults her into her orgasm comes muffled to Camila's ears when her thighs press together around Camila's head abruptly.

It's okay, though - Camila doesn't get to hear that moan as clearly as she would've liked, but she feels the rush of wetness by her chin and how Ally pulses against her mouth when she comes, and it's probably the hottest thing she's ever experienced.

Camila watches enthralled from in between Ally's legs as Ally's entire body seems to bow into her orgasm, her hand dropping from the pillow to clutch at the sheets beside her instead, and Camila's literally never felt as good as she feels by having Ally unravel under her like this.

After a few long moments, Ally's thighs drop back open and her fingers relax in Camila's hair, tugging weakly to pull her back up to her, and Camila takes a moment to wipe the back of her hand over her mouth and under her chin before dragging herself back up.

Camila rests her body lightly on top of Ally's, bracing her forearms beside her and looking down to take in Ally's sated expression, all swollen lips and flushed cheeks as she tries to catch her breath, and Camila can't help the smile on her lips at the thought that she was the one to get her like that.

"Come here," Ally says weakly, and the soft little sound she makes when Camila kisses her and she can taste herself on her tongue is ridiculously unfair. "That was amazing," she says when they part for breath, eyes staring down at Camila's mouth, and Camila grins.

"You're amazing," Camila says, "and gorgeous, and sexy," she adds, dropping a kiss to Ally's cheek at every comment, "and beautiful, and hot..."

"You already got me into bed," Ally chuckles, scratching her fingers tenderly down the back of Camila's neck. "No need for the flattery, baby."

"Do I win some cuddles for it, though?" Camila asks, and Ally's chest swells with affection at the curve of the smile on her lips.

"I suppose," Ally sighs, teasingly, running her hands down Camila's back tenderly and pressing her lips to hers again briefly.

Some more maneuvering around the bed is required, and Camila insists on turning over her pillow so they can use the cooler side of it, but soon enough they're settling back together, and Ally sighs deeply as she throws a leg over Camila's and snuggles in close, face tucked into Camila's neck.

"Sorry about your Gilmore Girls marathon," Ally says with a lazy smile, and Camila stops the trail of her fingers down Ally's back to press her closer against herself.

"I would say Gilmore Girls who, but that would be both an offense and a lie," Camila says, glancing up to the bedside drawer where her laptop's still powered on, the screen considerably dimmer. "You'll make it up to me, though."

"I thought I just did," Ally says, tightening her grip on Camila's waist.

"Hmmm," Camila hums, pretending to think it over. "Nope, I don't think so, no, not yet."

Ally's laugh is bright against her neck, and she shakes her head before replying. "I guess I'll just have to keep trying, then."

"I guess you will," Camila sing songs, resuming the trail of her fingers in light circles over Ally's shoulder. 

It's feels cozy and pretty much perfect to lie there together, heartbeats slowing and skin cooling off against the air of the room, and Ally can't quite get enough of running her fingers in soft caresses down Camila's body - trailing them softly around her breasts, skipping them down her ribs lightly until Camila jerks when it gets ticklish, pressing them around the curve of her waist.

It's almost too relaxing, because she can feel Camila's breathing slowing beneath herself, her grip around Ally's waist slackening, and she tickles her fingers lightly over Camila's waist to keep her from falling asleep.

"As much as I love this," Ally chuckles against Camila's collarbone, "and as much as I like your roommate, I don't really want her walking in here to find us like this."

Camila sighs loudly, raising an arm to rub at her eyes before dropping it back to the bed grouchily. "Fine," she agrees, eyes still closed. "Kiss," she says, puckering her lips, and Ally laughs but acquiesces, leaning up from her shoulder to press a kiss to her lips before lifting herself off from her.

Camila rolls off from the bed, letting Ally lie there on her side and watch as Camila reaches down to the ground to grab her clothes and push her top back over her head.

"Here," Camila says, giving Ally back the shirt she'd lent her and forcing herself to look away from Ally's dark eyes before they just end up tangled back up in bed, and not in the innocent way.

Ally's decision to get back dressed ends up having been the right one, because it's not long after Camila's shut down her laptop and settled back in bed with her that the door of the room rattles open and Hailee stumbles in.

"Camila, I swear we can- oh," Hailee says, stopping when she realizes Camila's not alone. "Hey," she says, slowly, looking back and forth between them as a slow grin spreads across her lips. "Heeey," she repeats, and Ally laughs at her obvious inebriation.

"Hey there Hails," Camila mutters, flushing at the wiggle of Hailee's eyebrows her way. "We were just going to sleep," she adds when Hailee just stands there nodding.

"Right," Hailee exclaims, kicking her shoes off and looking back at them. "Awesome. I'm just going to," she points to her own bed, before pointing back at Camila and giving her a thumbs up that Camila will be sure to strangle her for when Hailee is sober and Camila doesn't have Ally laughing into her neck.

 

  *******

 

Ally slurps distractedly on her milkshake as she stares down at her phone and heads to her next class at a lazy pace. 

She has at least another half an hour before she has to be in class, so she’s taking the time to organize her calendar between sorority business appointments and upcoming tests, which is getting tricky as her professors have things piling up increasingly each week.

It’s tricky because Ally is teetering on overloaded while trying to spend as much free time as she can with Camila - but she’s also always been easily distracted, so her study times and her Camila times need to be scheduled separately, otherwise absolutely no studying gets done. 

(They’ve tried to merge their studying times, and failed tremendously at it. Even if Camila tries to help Ally with her studies so that she's "actively helpeful" rather than distracting, even going so far as showing her an alternative way to organize her notes, Ally seriously needs to forcibly focus on her papers without Camila’s soft body to cuddle into beside her.)

Which is why she’s trying to move something around on her calendar since Camila had texted her to let her know she won’t be able to meet her tonight. Apparently Camila has some group assignment she needs to focus on, which leaves Ally here: staring down at her phone, half tempted to reschedule the sorority’s weekly chapter meeting, because it'd  allow her to spend tomorrow night  _and_ the next morning with Camila.

That being said, Ally’s the one who’d taught Mani the benefits of keeping their meetings calendar consistent, as well as of not rescheduling things on top of the time if it can be avoided, so if Mani caught wind that she’d done it for impure reasons (which she will), Ally will never hear the end of it.

She groans to herself, lowering her phone and heading over to the nearest trash can to discard of her empty milkshake, and that’s when she sees her in the distance.

Ally’s gotten used by now to the fluttering in her stomach when she sees Camila - it’s settled from the wild butterflies that come with new beginnings to this quieter, content feeling that settles in her chest at the sight of her. It’s both comforting and thrilling, the familiarity and the notion that she can come up to Camila and hug her, press the smile on her lips against Camila’s.

What she certainly hasn’t gotten used to, however, is the instant cooling of her entire body when Ally runs her eyes down Camila’s body to find someone else’s hands on her waist. Specifically, hands that are connected to some boy who’s smiling sweetly down at Camila.

It’s not a big deal, Ally tells herself.

Listen: Ally knows that one of her own biggest faults is to over think things. She’ll start building things up beyond what they are, and she knows it, and she’s been trying to change it for ages. That’s why she forces down the dread creeping up on her and starts walking towards Camila and her tall friend, planting a smile on her lips and focusing on Camila only.

Camila, who is putting her hands on her friend’s shoulders as she talks to him. Camila, who’s being pulled in close by his arms around her waist. Camila, who’s being lifted in the air and spun around. Camila, shrieking and laughing hard enough that Ally can hear it from a distance.

Ally can’t keep the smile on her lips nor keep the dread down anymore, her stomach sinking at the sight of Camila resting her cheek on that guy’s shoulder, so she turns around and decides that she might as well get to class a little bit early regardless of the bitter taste in her mouth.

*******

She doesn’t pay attention to class at all - she hardly knows if the professor had assigned any work for next class, too deep in her own head to pay attention. 

All she had planned for tonight is pushed to the back of her mind as she heads to Lauren and Dinah’s apartment.

“It’s not a big deal,” she says as she rests against Lauren’s side on the couch, staring down at her phone with her lip caught between her teeth.

“I agree,” Lauren says, running her fingers lightly through Ally’s hair as she watches whatever her latest nerdy obsession is on TV. “It sounds like a big deal to you, though, babe.”

“Well, it’s not,” Ally mutters, scrolling down further on her phone as she looks over the pictures on her screen quickly.

“Is that why you’re stalking Camila’s instagram right now?” Lauren asks dryly. 

“Here,” Ally exclaims suddenly, pushing herself off from Lauren’s side and shoving her phone before her friend’s face. “Do you know him?”

“Jesus,” Lauren mutters, pulling on Ally’s wrist until the phone is further away from her face and staring down at the picture from twenty seven weeks back on Camila’s instagram. “Yeah, that’s Shawn. He was in a study group with Camz and me... Always brought cookies.”

Ally hums an assent, pulling her phone back and clicking on his user to scroll through his account. There’s a bunch of innocuous pictures of the college outdoors, some more of Shawn with his back to the camera, plus a bunch of videos of him playing the guitar and singing.

She clicks on one, and her mouth tilts down when she hears his voice. It sounds pretty nice, she thinks, ignoring Lauren’s request to at least put on some headphones, and clicks on the next one. There’s a comment from Camila on that one, telling him he rocks, with the addition of the monkey emoji covering its eyes.

The next video is of him and Camila singing together, and Ally lets out a breath. She lets the video play for a couple of seconds before dropping her phone to her lap and letting herself be pulled back in against Lauren.

“She’s crazy about you, Ally,” Lauren says when Ally hugs her waist tightly with a shaky exhale. “Stop looking at that stuff, yeah?”

“Yeah,” Ally mumbles.

It’s what she says, but of course by now it’s too late. Hours later, after Lauren and Dinah have retreated to sleep, thus ceasing to be a distraction from her own head, Ally’s left to lie on their couch and scroll stare at her phone. 

She really doesn’t feel like going back to the sorority tonight, because Mani would notice her mood and start asking questions, and Ally doesn’t know if she can face that right now.

Instead, she opens up his Instagram again to find some more pictures. 

There’s a couple with Camila not far down, and Ally feels a conflicting pull in her chest at the wide smile on Camila’s face - it’s that familiar flutter again as her eyes get stuck to the curve of Camila’s lips, but then there’s also the awful twist in her gut at the closeness between her and the guy.

Luckily for her, she has an entire two days without Camila to over-think literally everything that’s brought her to this situation, where she’s pretty sure she’s screwed up majorly by not making things official with Camila sooner.

So much for not wanting to be too forward in order not to scare Camila off, she thinks, staring down at the new picture Shawn just posted of Camila staring down at her notebook with a frown on her face.

*******

"Hey!" Camila greets upon finding Ally in the living room, plopping herself down next to her on the couch and leaning in for a kiss.

Ally doesn't look back at her, though, just hums what might have been a "hi" back as she keeps typing on her phone, so Camila has no option but to press a soft kiss to her cheek instead.

"Sorry it's been a couple of days, but I'm all yours today," Camila says with a grin. She'd crammed for probably longer than she should have in order to get her pending assignments count to zero and enjoy some time with Ally before tests season really kicked in.

Ally's only response is raising her eyebrows down at her phone, which is not quite what Camila was expecting. She was expecting something more along the lines of being dragged up to Ally's room for some privacy, but instead she's left to take in Ally's closed posture and how she doesn't even turn to shoot a smile Camila's way.

"So, um," Camila says, hesitantly, bouncing slightly closer to her on the couch. "Whatcha doing?"

"Nothing much," Ally says quietly, and when Camila glances over to her phone she sees her sending a text and then going back to what seems like a mindless scroll through her apps. 

"Okay..." Camila says, chewing on her bottom lip and staring at Ally's profile for a moment. She clears her throat and pulls back the arm she'd thrown over the back of the couch behind Ally in favor of scratching at her own knee. "I'm, um. I forgot something with Mani, so I'm just going to... go grab it."

Ally hums an acknowledgement, so Camila gets up from the couch and climbs the stairs of the sorority house two at a time, giving awkward smiles to the girls she meets along the way to Mani's room.

"I screwed up," Camila announces, shoving Mani's door open after knocking and being invited in. "I screwed up, and now she hates me."

Mani spins around in her chair to face her, taking off her reading glasses to give Camila an unimpressed look. "What," she deadpans, watching as Camila throws herself back onto her bed.

"Did she tell you anything? You're her best friend, she must talk to you about me. Oh, God."

"If you're talking about Ally, yes, she talks to me about you way more than I'd prefer. You two are disgusting, in, like, a sweet way. But it's weird hearing about your best friends hooking it up."

Camila covers her eyes with her hands and groans loudly, and Mani rolls her chair closer to the bed so she can tug at her elbow. "What's wrong, Mila?" she asks, her voice much softer now that she sees Camila's not just being dramatic for the sake of it.

"I don't know," Camila mutters, dropping her hands to the bed and looking up at the ceiling with a frown. "She just... it's not the same, you know? She's been brushing me off these past couple of days, it's weird. Like we haven't even seen each other because I've been busy and  _she's_ been busy, and I- I don't know what to do, Mani. I don't know what's happening."

 "Have you tried, oh, I don't know… asking her?"

Camila's silence speaks for itself, and Normani rolls her eyes in exasperation. "Mila..."

"I know, okay, I know. I just. I'm afraid of what the answer's going to be," Camila admits quietly, turning her head to look back at her insecurely. "What if she doesn't want to be with me anymore?"

"Mila," Normani sighs, reaching out to brush her hand down her arm. "That girl is crazy about you. You have to talk to her."

Camila sighs, and the fragile look on her face has Mani leaning in close to drop a kiss to her forehead and press her hand to her cheek.

"Go talk to her."

*******

 "I  _know_ , Dinah," Ally groans into her phone as she rummages around the fridge. "Yeah, Lauren's said that already. Can you give the phone back to her?"

When she turns around with the jar of pickles in her hand, she finds Camila trailing into the kitchen, looking at her with raised eyebrows and lips pressed together. The hesitant look she gives her makes Ally pause, and she turns back to put the jar back into the fridge and close the fridge door.

"I've gotta go," Ally mutters into her phone, her back to Camila. "Tell Lauren I'll let her know how it goes. I-  _bye_ , Dinah."

Ally turns around and drops her phone to the kitchen island with a sigh, meeting Camila's eyes and nodding when Camila tilts her head with a questioning look.

"Can we talk?" Camila asks, and Ally draws in a breath. She knows this is what it would come to, and now it's a matter of facing the storm.

It's then that a group of sorority girls start heading into the kitchen as they talk, which, of course they do. It's no kidding how hard it is to get some privacy in the sorority house sometimes.

Ally meets the girls' eyes over Camila's shoulder and shakes her head, and something about the tension in the room gets them to stop and turn back around.

She wishes she could do the same, but Camila has a hurt puppy-eyed look on her face, and Ally's been going crazy with herself these past few days, and she  _has_  to put it out there.

"I saw you with Shawn," Ally says at once, lowering her eyes and holding her hands in front of herself as she leans her hip against the kitchen island. 

She figures that's the most neutral introduction she can use without spewing all of her insecurities out at once, and she can't look at Camila as she says it lest Camila's expression confirms all the fears that have built up inside her head these last couple of days.

"Look, I know we're not official or anything, but I- I didn't know we were seeing other people," Ally admits, her chest feeling tight as she desperately tries to convince herself that she's  _fine_ with this.

She's repeated it over and over in her head: she's fine with it, the important thing is that Camila and her have something between them. Ally just needs to figure out a way to make it clear that that's what she wants - she wants them, and  _just them_ , to be a thing, and it's not Camila's fault if Ally hasn't made it clear until now.

Camila makes this sound at her admission that seems a lot like she's choking on her own tongue, and Ally whips her head up to find Camila looking back at her with wide eyes.

"Wha- no? We're official!" Camila nearly shouts, stepping closer and gesturing with her hands frantically. "Of course we're official, Ally, I mean- we're not? Aren't we? We should be," she rambles, urgently, interrupting Ally when she tries to speak. "Shawn's not official! I mean, not that he's unofficial either, he's- that's not- he's nothing!"

"Camila-"

"I mean, he's not nothing, please don't tell him I said that, I mean, he's a very good friend, but like, that's it! We're not that, right? You and I?" Camila takes in a huge breath, looking back wide eyed at her as Ally takes in how agitated she seems as she tries to explain herself. "I mean, I- Ally-"

Ally's not sure quite what part of Camila's frantic rambling has Ally's chest feeling lighter by the second - if it's the urgent tone in her voice or the flush to her cheeks as she nearly runs out of breath, or what.

Regardless, the tiny voice in the back of Ally's head that's had her doubting herself - doubting  _them_  these last couple of days finally shuts up. The hint of desperation in Camila's voice as she keeps talking is all she hears, and there's no more room for the replaying of any hints that might've pointed to Camila not seeing them the same way as Ally did.

"Camila," Ally tries to interrupt her with a smile, reaching out for her hands and gripping them tightly. "Breathe."

Camila listens to her for once, interrupting herself and inhaling sharply as she presses her lips together. "Sorry," she breathes out, turning her hand over to intertwine her fingers with Ally's.

"I think I might have gotten some things mixed up," Ally says, smiling when Camila runs her thumb in a soft caress over the back of her hand, and getting a nervous smile from her in return.

"Well, um. I think I might have done some things wrong that if you didn't think we're... official." 

Ally can't help the giggle she lets out at the frown on Camila's face then, and she shakes away the rest of her anxieties when Camila smiles at the sound. They tug each other closer by the hands until Ally's pressed in tightly against Camila, letting go of their hands to hug her around the waist.

"Let's do this then," Ally says against Camila's shoulder, "we'll agree to be official if we can agree to forget that I got jealous of Shawn. How about that?"

Camila laughs, hugging her tighter and dropping a kiss to her hair. "I think we can do that, yeah."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was supposed to be published this past weekend, my apologies on that front. I hope it was worth the wait!


End file.
